Apologies for the self promo, just trying to get it started. Feel free to delete if this isn't allowed :)
A ban for first offense seems excessive, but to be fair, this whole situation must be quite stressful for them and being asked by hundreds of users for support of X or Y alternative seems like it would quickly become annoying.
Browser fingerprinting is a thing (identifying someone by their browser's configuration and fonts, amongst other things), but I don't see them using that for bans honestly.